Epistemology of religious experience: reading ‘Religion Within the Bounds of Bare Reason’ by Immanuel Kant

elective seminars

The seminar will proceed through a joint reading of the book ‘Religion Within the Bounds of Bare Reason’ by Immanuel Kant with particular emphasis on epistemological means and strategies used to describe religious experience.

Both the limits of the application of our reason and the question of religion have always remained the center of Kant's interests. "Religion within reason itself", which in the author's intention is a lecture on pure philosophical theory of religion, is one of the most important positions, shaping not only the contemporary and contemporary understanding of religion, but also a workshop for acquiring pure philosophy of concepts proper to religious thinking. During the course, we will follow Kant's argument step by step, especially looking at how "the philosopher uses what he borrowed from theology in a sense corresponding to pure reason, but unpleasant to theology! direct it to other goals than the structure of this thing allows. The classes will supplement students' knowledge of important books in the field of the philosophy of religion and may be a good starting point for further independent study of the views of philosophers of religion. The seminar is intended for students interested in the problems of philosophy of religion and epistemology. The classes are a continuation of the Epistemology of Religious Experience classes from the 2019/2020 academic year.

„Religia w obrębie samego rozumu” Immanuela Kanta

Acquired knowledge: Knowledge of Immanuel Kant’s philosophy of religion

Acquired skills:

comprehensively knows and thoroughly understands the views of classical philosopher; reads and interprets a philosophical text; analyzes philosophical arguments, identifies key theses and assumptions, and detects dependencies between their theses and assumptions; selects argumentation strategies, constructs critical arguments, formulates responses to criticism; creatively uses philosophical and methodological knowledge in formulating hypotheses and constructing critical arguments; independently interprets a philosophical text, comments on and confronts theses from various texts; analyzes complex philosophical arguments, identifies their theses and assumptions, determines logical and argumentative relationships between theses; determines the degree of importance of theses posed for the investigated problem or argument;

Acquired social competences: is open to new ideas and ready to change opinion in the light of the available data and arguments; on the basis of a creative analysis independently formulates proposals for their solutions; is able to interact and work in a group, assuming various roles in it. Has ability to present hers/his views in an intersubjectively understandable manner

The prerequisite for passing the seminar is active participation in the classes (40%) and preparation of at least one class report with own commentary, or preparation and presentation of a lecture as part of the seminar, or a written essay on a topic related to the seminar approved by the teacher (60%).